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Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sunday Morning Fun - Who's Number 1,000?

Randy was having some more Saturday Night Fun but by the time he posted in California I was already in bed here in New York.

It's Saturday night, and I'm sitting here wondering who else is pecking away on his/her keyboard not having any real fun. So, let's play a little game with our genealogy software:

GOAL: Find out who is Reference Number 1,000 in your genealogy software.

Randy has instructions on how to find # 1000 in several different software programs, including Family Tree Maker 16 and FTM 2009. I use FTM 2005 so it should have been easy. Ha!

In Family Tree Maker 16, it turned out to be similar to FTM 2009: [Edit] > [Find Individual] > Search [Reference number] and for = [1000], click [Find Next]. This took less than one second to solve.

It turns out that the creators of Family Tree 2005 see reference numbers as obsolete.

The reference number field allows you to enter any numbers or letters you choose. This reference system stems from the days when genealogy programs used numbers to find someone in the database. Today’s software uses names, but some researchers still prefer to have the reference numbers available. This is useful if you use a unique filing or pedigree reference system. If you do not use such a system, leave the field blank. You may use a combination of letters and numbers not to exceed 11 characters.

Apparently I never had a use for them before this so I had to turn the automatic reference numbers option on so there would be a number to search for!

My results? Number 1000 is Benjamin Bargwell to whom I am not related. He was the father of Matthew Bargewell 1833-1881 who married my 2nd cousin - 3 times removed, Miriam Rogers 1832-1920.

Randy's 1000, William Simonds 1651-1872, is also in my file as William Symonds - #9044. His sister, Judith 1644-1704, was the first wife of my 8th great-grandfather, John Barker, 1645-1709. So Randy and I connect through the Towne line but apparently not through this one.

You taught me something new this morning, Apple! My FTM is pretty old - version 7 from 2003. I've seen the reference numbers at bottom right while in index of individuals search in the card file window, but had no idea how to get to them. My 1000 is a contemporary person so I won't give names, but it's the mother of a first cousin's wife.